Hauck wins city's 2011 volunteer spirit award

Former Ashland City Councilman Steve Hauck, who died in September 2010, is the posthumous winner of the city's 2011 James M. Ragland Memorial Volunteer Spirit Community Service Award.

Vickie Aldous

Former Ashland City Councilman Steve Hauck, who died in September 2010, is the posthumous winner of the city's 2011 James M. Ragland Memorial Volunteer Spirit Community Service Award.

"He was a person who lived to help others," Mayor John Stromberg said.

Stromberg said Hauck worked to improve the quality of life in Ashland and the whole Rogue Valley.

Born in Ashland in 1955 to a family with pioneer roots in the valley, Hauck graduated from Ashland High School and earned a master's degree in management from Southern Oregon University.

Hauck was living in Shady Cove, where he was the executive director of the Upper Rogue Community Center, when he died at age 55 with family members at his side.

Hauck's brother and sister, Jerry Hauck and Sheri Burrell, both of Ashland, attended a Tuesday ceremony in the Ashland Civic Center to honor their sibling's volunteer work.

Jerry Hauck said his brother always gave credit to the people with whom he worked. Burrell said Steve Hauck got much of his volunteer spirit from their mother, who started a center to help women in Jackson, Josephine and Douglas counties after becoming a single mom.

In addition to serving on the Ashland City Council for 11 years, Hauck also sat on the Ashland Citizens' Budget Committee, the Ashland School District Budget Committee, the Ashland Water Conservation Commission and the Ashland Housing Commission.

He served on the boards of the Rogue Valley Transportation District, the Rogue Valley Council of Governments Budget Committee and ACCESS Inc. His statewide service included serving in the Oregon National Guard, working as a legislative assistant in the Legislature and serving on the Oregon Department of Transportation Urban Mobility Advisory Committee.